So now we know...

Cressers
Cressers Posts: 1,329
edited April 2010 in The bottom bracket
...who really runs the UK.

It's Willie Walsh of British Airways. What a master stroke, forcing the issue by presenting the govt with a flying fait-acompli!

At least it's shown the govt to be what they are, a bunch of incompetent fools, and another dent in Labour's poll ratings will do the nation no harm at all...

Comments

  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    Cressers wrote:
    ...who really runs the UK.

    It's Willie Walsh of British Airways. What a master stroke, forcing the issue by presenting the govt with a flying fait-acompli!

    At least it's shown the govt to be what they are, a bunch of incompetent fools, and another dent in Labour's poll ratings will do the nation no harm at all...

    Gotta love him for that. Boarded the test flights himself, rather than "volunteering" underlings and then, having established tha this flight crews and other air staff thoguht it was safe and were prepared to work, put em all in the air.

    Would love to have heard that phonecall "Mr. Brown, I have 26 planes heading for London... What do you propose to do about it?"
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • NWLondoner
    NWLondoner Posts: 2,047
    And what happened to the Finnish fighter jets?? as well as the Met office plane and IIRC a US fighter jet as well?


    It's not a simple black and white issue.

    The CAA and Nats are independent of the Govt and make there rulings according to international guidance. Yes the Govt. can maybe push them in a certain direction but there is a reason that the UK as the safest airspace. We don't take any risks.

    Had a plane crashed due to flying too soon you would all be calling for the PM's head as well as the head of the CEO of the airline company.
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    NWLondoner wrote:
    And what happened to the Finnish fighter jets?? as well as the Met office plane and IIRC a US fighter jet as well?


    It's not a simple black and white issue.

    The CAA and Nats are independent of the Govt and make there rulings according to international guidance. Yes the Govt. can maybe push them in a certain direction but there is a reason that the UK as the safest airspace. We don't take any risks.

    Had a plane crashed due to flying too soon you would all be calling for the PM's head as well as the head of the CEO of the airline company.

    I think the airlines know this as well. They don't want to kill people and destroy their businesses, tha knows.
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • NWLondoner
    NWLondoner Posts: 2,047
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    NWLondoner wrote:
    And what happened to the Finnish fighter jets?? as well as the Met office plane and IIRC a US fighter jet as well?


    It's not a simple black and white issue.

    The CAA and Nats are independent of the Govt and make there rulings according to international guidance. Yes the Govt. can maybe push them in a certain direction but there is a reason that the UK as the safest airspace. We don't take any risks.

    Had a plane crashed due to flying too soon you would all be calling for the PM's head as well as the head of the CEO of the airline company.

    I think the airlines know this as well. They don't want to kill people and destroy their businesses, tha knows.

    Not always true. Like the US Mcdonnell Douglas and the cargo door failures on the DC10. They KNEW the door was faulty but just ignored it and only did anything about it after several disasters.
  • Splottboy
    Splottboy Posts: 3,695
    Think the ash they found inside the BA 's engines, were two scroats from Barry having a crafty fag inside the hanger...
  • deptfordmarmoset
    deptfordmarmoset Posts: 3,118
    A local blog makes a good point about how Boris Johnson, chummy with Willie Walsh, twittered away about no flights and whether the experts had the right risk assessment. Yet Londoners will remember how he defended the disappearance of buses when a little snow made a rare appearance on our roads.

    http://853blog.wordpress.com/2010/04/21 ... ash-scare/
    Looking for a cycling buddy?
  • pneumatic
    pneumatic Posts: 1,989
    I want to know why the Government didn't stop the volcano from erupting in the first place. I mean, how incompetent are they? I bet if the SNP had been in power, they would have found a way to prevent it.

    FFS folks, you can't blame everything on politicians (tempting as it may be).

    Fast and Bulbous
    Peregrinations
    Eddingtons: 80 (Metric); 60 (Imperial)
  • Splottboy
    Splottboy Posts: 3,695
    Well, thats ME not voting for Mr Spock this time around.

    Call himself a Vulcan? Can't control any of his own party by the looks of it.
  • pneumatic
    pneumatic Posts: 1,989
    Splottboy wrote:
    Well, thats ME not voting for Mr Spock this time around.

    Call himself a Vulcan? Can't control any of his own party by the looks of it.
    :lol::lol:

    Fast and Bulbous
    Peregrinations
    Eddingtons: 80 (Metric); 60 (Imperial)
  • Cressers
    Cressers Posts: 1,329
    And how does Brown feel now? So small that he'd need an electron microscope to be seen. "But Willie! I dissed your cabin crew strikers when you asked me, I did my best to increase UK aviation and airport capacity while demonising anyone who had the timerity to use an incandesent light bulb, I did everything for you and this is how you treat me..."
  • finchy
    finchy Posts: 6,686
    Cressers wrote:
    ...who really runs the UK.

    It's Willie Walsh of British Airways. What a master stroke, forcing the issue by presenting the govt with a flying fait-acompli!

    At least it's shown the govt to be what they are, a bunch of incompetent fools, and another dent in Labour's poll ratings will do the nation no harm at all...

    I think you'll find that most sane people prefer a precautionary approach to things like this.
  • -spider-
    -spider- Posts: 2,548
    Let me see...
      The engine manufacturers state that the acceptable level of volcanic ash in an engine is zero. quote
    "Current international procedures recommend avoiding volcano ash at all times."
    Source CAA website - http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?c ... l&nid=1862

    The CAA (the regulator on non military air travel in UK airspace) accepts that engine manufacturers place their own tolerance level on thier equipment and acts on that information.

    Gordon Brown gets the blame.

    Good, good - I like it!

    I hate Brown and all he stands for but, come on - let's have some perspective here.
    -Spider-
  • SteveR_100Milers
    SteveR_100Milers Posts: 5,987
    Cressers wrote:
    ...who really runs the UK.

    It's Willie Walsh of British Airways. What a master stroke, forcing the issue by presenting the govt with a flying fait-acompli!

    At least it's shown the govt to be what they are, a bunch of incompetent fools, and another dent in Labour's poll ratings will do the nation no harm at all...

    Since when was Gordon Brown, or indeed any UK govt representative responsible for the European air traffic control safety?

    Personally I wouldnt fly until it is proven beyond any doubt there is no increased risk of engine failure - do you know this fr a fact?
    A stunt like the one Walsh pulled is just that, a stunt - understandable perhaps given the predicament of his company (privately run, nothing to do with any government remember - a strategy that was set by a certain M Thatcher a while ago now) is in. If you really think that airlines have safety as their #1 priority then you live in a fools paradise.
    http://www.pontypoolrcc.co.uk/
    www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=44397853765

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